EdTrust recommends ways to improve MSI support

One in five postsecondary institutions in America are minority-majority, and collectively they enroll about a quarter of the nation’s students, many of whom are first-generation and low-income.

Demand for these colleges is expected to grow, and school leaders say they need more funding and leadership to keep up.

New report released Tuesday by the nonprofit policy and advocacy group Education Trust, suggests it’s time to better support these institutions and address the problems historical underfunding by giving them more federal money and making grant programs more accessible. This could happen by amending the Higher Education Act of 1965, a sweeping piece of legislation that governs federal financial aid programs and a range of other policies but which has not been revised since 2008.

“These institutions take on the lion’s share of serving low-income students and students of color,” said EdTrust Senior Vice President Wil Del Pilar. “We need to provide additional resources to these institutions as they continue to do more and more work to recruit and graduate students of color.”

The study, titled “Updating the Higher Education Act to Better Serve Students of Color,” is based on a series of Zoom interviews with executives from 22 different MSIs conducted between March and November 2022.

Based on these interviews, the advocacy group recommends an overall increase in annual federal funding; recognition of different types, sizes and locations of institutions in the selection process; and providing enhanced technical assistance during both the application and implementation phases of grant programs.

Problems are growing

The number of MSIs increased 18.9 percent from 2017 to 2021, rising from 597 to 710, according to the agency. September report from the Association of State Higher Education Administrators.. This means more institutions are competing for funds from two key sources of money known as Titles III and V, which are behind the pace and have limited resources.

In addition, there is a historical trend of underfunding at the state level. For example, compared to predominantly white land-grant institutions, the South’s 18 historically black colleges and universities received $12.8 billion. less government funding per student over the past three decades.

As a result, many institutions are deferring maintenance costs and struggling to meet basic infrastructure needs.

“My daughter attended an HBCU (during the pandemic) and they were using the free version of Zoom, so every 45 minutes they were all kicked out of class and had to log back in because they didn’t have the institutional resources to purchase the full version,” Del Pilar said. “These are needs that we hear about widely. We don’t find them very sexy, but they do change the student’s experience.”

Yet despite these challenges, the report finds that MSIs play an important role in the success of students of color and make significant contributions to the local and national economy.

Although HBCUs make up only 3 percent of institutions receiving federal aid, they account for 17 percent of all bachelor’s degrees earned by black Americans. Latino-serving institutions are similar: Although they make up only 18 percent of all colleges and universities, they graduate more than half of Latino degree holders. Now, as diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in some states encourage more students of color to enroll at MSI, experts expect the pressure on these institutions to only increase, Del Pilar explained.

“Think about what just happened last year around affirmative action“, he said. “We are seeing an increase, at least according to some initial data, in student enrollment at HBCUs and MSIs in general as students seek to enroll on campuses where they feel a sense of belonging. But these institutions do not have additional resources to better serve these students.”

Policy Updates Needed

EdTrust argues that the best way to better recognize these contributions is to update federal grants policies.

While some of the changes that could be made are predictable, such as increasing the amount of funding (EdTrust did not specify the amount) or providing more flexibility in how the money can be spent, others, Del Pilar said, were more surprising.

One of the most prominent requests from university leaders was for more detailed guidance on grant application and implementation processes. For some, this may mean helping them understand how to manage a grant as a first-time grantee. For others who have more experience with the application process, this may mean helping to differentiate between the several types of grants received and figuring out what is allowed in each.

Other changes may include recognition of various characteristics, such as size, type and location of the institution, in the selection process to avoid unfair competition. Currently, competitive grant programs do not differentiate between a public university or private R-1 institution and a community college. But resource-constrained colleges that don’t have a grant writing team may have a harder time crafting a strong proposal.

“We have created an unfair environment where we pit two institutions against each other, one with more resources and one with fewer resources,” Del Pilar explained.

Another issue is that an institution cannot be designated as multiple different types of MSI when applying for a grant. Currently, institutions can only apply for grants for one of seven institution types. Some may have enough students from different minority groups that they could theoretically double their income, but current regulations force them to make a difficult decision.

“It can pit communities on a college campus against each other and create what I think is a significant amount of tension on campuses that have to make decisions based on which one has the higher level of funding,” Del Pilar said. “If I have an HSI grant and no longer have an AANAPISI grant, you may have a group of students who no longer feel identified.”

Overall, EdTrust believes the goal should be to make changes to outdated policies to better meet the needs of 21st century MSIs and the students of color they serve.

“As we invest in these campuses,” Del Pilar said, “we must educate and inform them extensively about other federal opportunities they may not know about that can help their students and their institution move forward.”